• Hello guest! Are you an Apistogramma enthusiast? If so we invite you to join our community and see what it has to offer. Our site is specifically designed for you and it's a great place for Apisto enthusiasts to meet online. Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your fish and tanks and have a great time with other Apisto enthusiasts. Sign up today!

Trifasciata for beginners ?

imbellis

New Member
Messages
5
Location
Turkey
Hello,

I am Armağan, greetings from Turkey. I've been looking around this forum for a few days as I am about to set up a new apistogramma tank. Actually, I am a Tanganyikan shelldweller enthusiast, keeping 4 different species in 4 different tanks. I've always been curious about keeping apisto, so I go ahead.This is the place where I'll set up the tank:
290120171320151.jpg


The tank will be 40x35x35h cm, about 49 litres. I can find some well-known species such as borelli,agassizi,baenschi,cacatuoides. As I don't like artificial selection types like double-red,orange flash cacatuoides, I'll keep a pair of wild form apisto (It won't be wild caught). My friends recommended me to have a pair of trifasciata. They had experience before, they told me some tips. What do you say ? What is the best for a beginner? I'll wait, thank you in advance. If you want to ask any questions about shelldwellers, I'd love to help.
 

MickeM

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
441
Location
STOCKHOLM , SWEDEN
Hi imbellis + all ..

Your tank is actually a little bit too small in my opinion, but if you will have it well decorated (or keep a reserve-tank for back-up/evacuation) it might work as a spawning tank..
I often keep breeding pairs of Apistos in 60x30x20cm tanks or larger (and then always keeping an eye if aggression-level is OK for the female/s)..
..but then I often have to move the male from time to time..
With the limited area you`ve got , I would suggest A. borelli.. in my experience they are rarely as aggressive like some other Apistos..(when breeding.. or when males are preparing to spawn/establish territory..)
Fill up the tank with plants/roots/caves .. and some "hiding-tubes"+plants at the surface.
If possible.. when starting.. maybe you can let the female in solo..for a week or so..before you let the male enter..

Since you are an experienced fish keeper you probably will see when/if you will need to change the set-up/fish combo.. if problem should occur..

If you want the trifasciata I would recommend a much longer/larger tank.. 80-90cm<.. (the trifasciata-males are famous for being very territorial towards other males... or females with no spawning intentions..)

Great to hear about your shelldwellers.. a friend of mine keep various Tanganyika fishes.. (cichlids+killies)
Personally I am tempted to try some Callochromis species if I will ever get a large tank soon.. :)

/Micke
 

imbellis

New Member
Messages
5
Location
Turkey
Thank you, Micke. I like borelli,maybe it is a better choice for beginning as you said. Well, I've another question. As dither species, I want to have some killifishes.Most of time, I know that keepers use tetras as dither fish, but I like killies so much.I want to give a place for them as well. Have you ever tried killies with apistos, or do you recommend ?

In Tanganyika, lamprogini species are my favorite. I hope you will enjoy with Callochromis.Some species in this complex are pretty good.Here are some of my fish photos, I have a pair for each species;Lamprologus signatus, Neolamprologus brevis, Lamprologus ocellatus,Neolamprologus caudopunctatus :
290120171317111.jpg
DSCF6516.JPG
DSCF7374.JPG
DSCF6918.JPG
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
In Tanganyika, lamprogini species are my favorite.........
They are lovely, I'm always very tempted by Tanganyikan cichlids.
Thank you, Micke. I like borelli,maybe it is a better choice for beginning as you said. Well, I've another question. As dither species, I want to have some killifishes.Most of time, I know that keepers use tetras as dither fish, but I like killies so much.I want to give a place for them as well. Have you ever tried killies with apistos, or do you recommend ?
I've kept Clown Killi <"Epiplatys annulatus"> as a <"dither successfully">.

If you can keep the Epiplatys happy then your Apistogramma should be fine.

I've also had Norman's Lamp-eye (Poropanchax normani), they are OK, but they will try and eat fry and they are prolific breeders.

"@MickeM" is your <"best bet"> for some more species.

cheers Darrel
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
Thanks Darrel. I am considering Epiplatys dageti.Let's see how I end up with.I've ordered the tank today, I changed the height. It'll be 45x36x40h cm.
It is a nice fish, but much <"bigger and more predatory>" than Epiplatys annulatus.

I haven't tried, but wouldn't keep them with Apistogramma, and even a pair would be better in a bigger tank.

cheers Darrel
 

Happyfins

Member
Messages
93
Location
Sydney
Aplocheilus blochi. They are predatory toward very small fish but stay at the surface. Looks like your tank will be high rather than wide so the cichlids would keep them in check. They are good at preventing a guppy or endler explosion.
 

boofeng

Member
Messages
92
My borelli "opal" (German captive bred) just brought out a batch of bottom hugging fry, in a tank that measures only 30x20x25 cm. And this is their second brood in this tank!

borelli female with fry.jpg borelli tank.jpg

It's very densely planted with moss, frogbit, hornwort, Ceratopteris and the usual obligatory bits of algae. There's also two caves and some bits of driftwood inside. This was originally meant to be a temporary holding tank (near my daphnia culture area) - I didn't really mean to keep apisto pairs in a 30x20 cm footprint - but they really surprised me!

I've also kept a colony with 1-2 male and 10+ female trifasciata (captive breds), in a 90x40x40 cm tank, heavily planted as well. They were very prolific there.

Other species of apistos don't seem to do so well in such close confines, though. I have a friend who insists on keeping pairs of apistos in row after row of these tanks, and he loses the odd fish here and there, especially the wild caught ones. He has good success with spawning hongsloi, cacatuoides, borelli and macmasteri, though!
 

MickeM

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
441
Location
STOCKHOLM , SWEDEN
I agree with Darrel and Happyfins .. the annulatus + blochi are often great dither fishes (at least as long as some floating plants excisist in the tank !!)

Here is an earlier thread about this topic..
(The Apistos I kept with Pseudomugil actually "learned" to search the mosses in my tank for Pseudomugil eggs layed every day!! Fresh raw food!!:))

BTW.. Larger Epiplatys species can also be mixed with large/old/grown Apistos in larger/longer/higher planted tanks .. but they will try to attack the Apisto fry !!
I got fry from both Apistos and Epiplatys lamottei in a 115x45x40cm planted tank!!

http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/threads/dither-fish.21336/#post-100583
 
Last edited:

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
17,916
Messages
116,204
Members
13,028
Latest member
JaconieMalonie

Latest profile posts

Josh wrote on anewbie's profile.
Testing
EDO
Longtime fish enthusiast for over 70years......keen on Apistos now. How do I post videos?
Looking for some help with fighting electric blue rams :(
Partial updated Peruvian list have more than this. Please PM FOR ANY QUESTIONS so hard to post with all the ads poping up every 2 seconds….
Top